


Sunsets by the Ocean

by h1nata (inuzukamingyu)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-28
Updated: 2017-08-04
Packaged: 2018-10-25 03:15:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10755600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inuzukamingyu/pseuds/h1nata
Summary: a small collection of hance writings





	1. Silly

Lance shifted slightly, but he didn’t tear his gaze away from Hunk who was focused on whatever it was he was working on at the moment. Lance never understood what Hunk was talking about when he would excitedly explain his newest project, and he didn’t really  _ care _ if he was being honest, but he tried his best to react accordingly so that Hunk’s smile wouldn’t dim in the slightest. Sometimes he missed the mark though, and he’d be lying if he said it didn’t kill him inside every time he unintentionally caused the other male to sigh and frown a bit. 

Nonetheless, here they were in an unused, and totally forgotten about storage room-turned-workshop on the Castle-ship, Hunk still focused on his project with a gleam in his eye and Lance watching him, totally relaxed for the first time in a long while. He startled when Hunk gasped sharply and shouted an excited “A-ha!” while holding up the final product. Lance held onto his chest from the surprise and from intense feelings he got from seeing the yellow paladin laughing excitedly at his gadget.

“Look, Lance, I finally did it!” Hunk rolled over to the other with the gadget.

“’Is that—Is that a  _ puppy bot? _ ’ Lance questions, excitement bubbling up inside him; it shows on his face, and in his voice as he lets out a few delighted chuckles as well. Hunk nods quickly, laughter picking up and without hesitation hands it over to Lance. “Dude, this is so cool! And cute!”

“Well, remember when we were reminiscing the other day? You said that you’d always wanted a dog, so I figured I had the ability to make it happen. It’s a good thing you don’t listen to me when I ramble on about the specifics, your reaction was the best.” Hunk beamed, and Lance felt happy tears well up in his eyes. He carefully placed the puppy-bot beside him before launching himself at Hunk; he buried his face into his friend’s shoulder and squeezed him tight. Hunk smiled softly and wrapped his arms around Lance as well, his hand sneaking up to ruffle the back of Lance’s hair.

“Thanks, Hunk, you’re the best,” Hunk shivered as Lance’s breath blew across his ear as the other pulled back to rest his forehead against Hunk’s before kissing him shortly, yet sweetly. “You always know how to make me feel at home.” Lance’s whispers ghosted across Hunk’s lips, leaving Hunk craving more.

“I’m only returning the favor, babe.” They both snicker and melt into each other again, content and feeling as if they were back at home on Earth, messing around in the Garrison barracks like the innocent, somewhat stress-free teens they were. Like usual, it took them a while to untangle from each other, but they did eventually and went back to the puppy-bot that Hunk built. “So, what are you going to name it?” Hunk questioned Lance who looked entirely in love with his new robo-pet.

“Hance,” Lance grinned.

“Do not,” Hunk groaned.

“Hance Lunkleton, my—no,  _ our _ new son! We’re pet parents, oh my god! Am I ready to be a father? Are  _ you _ ready to be a father?” Lance’s voice devolved into a dramatically panicked whisper and Hunk realized that this might be payback for all of the puns he dared to utter throughout his entire life.

“What will the others think if they hear that name?” Hunk slumped backwards in his chair, anxious about their new and quite unexpected (but honestly, totally expected) relationship being exposed before he can even come to terms with it himself.

“They’ll be jealous, that’s what! I have a super awesome boyfriend—wait, would it be husband since we’re parents now?—either way, I have a super awesome husboyfriend  _ and _ the cutest robo-puppy-son.” Lance smirks as if he’s won it all and Hunk can’t even find it in himself to be as anxious anymore. “Besides, I’ll bet you everyone must’ve thought we were already dating since apparently everyone knew Pidge was a girl even though I literally had no idea, which I don’t quite understand because my girldar is one hundo percent—”

Hunk shakes his head and covers Lance’s mouth with his hand, “Dude, please stop,” Hance barks happily in Lance’s hands, his tail wagging smoothly (much to Hunk’s delight). “and we’re not calling him Hance around anyone, let’s just call him H and if anyone asks, we don’t have a name yet.”

“Okay, fine,” Lance grumbles, but when Hance begins to whimper, he brightens up immediately in order to soothe the puppy. “Anyways, we should head out soon, I feel like we’ve been in here for forever.” Lance removes himself from Hunk’s lap before Hunk proceeds to get up as well, yawning and stretching out the kinks from sitting for far too long. As the two exit the makeshift workshop, they run into Pidge.

Before the two can even say anything, Pidge snorts. “So uh, Hance Lunkleton, huh? Nice. ” She snorts again, even moreso as Lance beams in pride and Hunk blushes furiously. “Also, what the heck are  _ husboyfriends _ ? Like, seriously, Lance?” Pidge is full blown giggles at this point, and only now is Lance offended at her obvious giggles.

“Listen, I am a  _ genius _ , Pidge.”

“Right, okay genius.” Pidge laughs the whole way down the hall with Lance explaining his genius and Hunk wishing none of this was happening at the moment. All three earned weird looks from Shiro and Keith who also happened to be making their way down the hall behind them.

“Hance Lunkleton?” Keith whispers under his breath.

“Husboyfriends?” Shiro furrows his brows and the two share a confused look before shaking their heads simultaneously, shrugging it off for now, and joining the rest of the paladins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hance lunkleton is the worst name ever, but also the best lmao


	2. Insecurities

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i was initially gonna write a funny & "cute" brot3 between hance & pidge but i changed my mind but now i wish i hadn't hhhhhhhhhhhhh i'm emo

It’s been a long time since Lance felt like this—stomach in painful knots, chest heavy with insecurities, mind reeling with thoughts previously buried. He bit his lip before letting out  a deep, shuddery sigh, hoping that it’d release some of the tension built up in his body; however, it had the opposite effect. Lance gazed at his reflection in the mirror, inspecting his imperfections—both visible and not—and cursing himself again and again. He thinks back to how he talked big talk before and after their recent mission, before and after he messed up royally, and his makes everything heavier.

“Again, and again, and again,” He shuts his eyes tight and leans forward onto the sink, his grip harsh enough to make his fingers numb. “I mess up again, I ruin everything again. I can’t do anything right. Why am I even here?”

“You’re here because you were chosen, Lance.” Hunk’s voice is soft and quiet; it filters into Lance’s ears like the lullabies his mother used to sing to him before she put him to sleep (the very same ones Hunk dedicated time Lance told him he didn’t have to learn). “You’re here because we need you, because I need you.” His fingers slide over Lance’s slowly, but surely, easing the pressure until their fingers and intertwined. Hunk wraps his arms around Lance, bringing the other into his warm embrace.

Lance refuses to meet Hunk’s eyes in the mirror, choosing to look downwards into nothing really. “You’re just saying that, Hunk. Anyone could take my place, and they could do it better, too—probably.” Lance mumbles out his insecurities, but Hunk is so tuned into everything his lover is saying that he can make out every word. And he listens to everything Lance has to say, no matter how much he wants to interject, to fight him about his place on the team.

No matter how painful the words were for both of them, Lance continues to spill out his heart, and Hunk continues to listen.

Hunk bends his head forward a bit, leaning down to Lance’s ear. “Lance, look at me,” he whispers, his smile fond as Lance shivers and looks up slowly. Their eyes meet in the mirror; Lance’s are glossy with yet unshed tears, and Hunk’s are fond with a hint of pain and understanding. “I know it’s not easy to believe in yourself, to see worth in who you are and what you can do, but please believe me when I say that you matter. Not only to me or your family, but to Pidge, Keith, Shiro, Allura, Coran, and all of the people that you’ve managed to save so far. You make mistakes, but we all make mistakes, and we’ll all continue to make mistakes, because I don’t know if you know this, but none of us were born ready to be paladins. Yeah, Shiro and Keith seem naturally skilled at this, but that’s their thing, you know. Just like Pidge and I are like the geeks of the crew, and you, you’re the super awesome cool sharpshooter that everyone can rely on.”

Lance is only able to let out a short chuckle before the tears begin to roll down his face, and he removes himself from Hunk’s arms only to turn himself around and bury his face into Hunk’s chest. Hunk smiles softly down at Lance before kissing the top of his head and rubbing his back, softly singing his favorite lullaby to him until he begins to calm down.


	3. Reconciliation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hunk lets out his feelies & the friendship gets even more realies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i saw a post on tumblr talkin abt how lance mistreats hunk and it made me sad so i was gonna ignore it, but i figured why not address it and make a happy ending myself lol
> 
> anyways, it'd be super rad is there was a lotta hance feel goods in season 3 & a lot of lance appreciatin hunk & hunk picking lance up from his sads
> 
> also, this update took so long bc i tried to write a smut drabble but i guess i can't write smut anymore so here's more angst turned fluff

Lance sighs when Hunk fidgets in his place for the nth time in the span of an hour. He looks over to his friend, ready to voice his annoyance—that is  until he notices Hunk flinch slightly, a sharp intake of breath following suit. Lance furrows his brows and sits up from his bed. He doesn’t speak immediately, he just watches Hunk’s reaction. The other male still seemed tensed, possibly even more so now that Lance has sat up, and his small pout turned into a full on frown. Lance could see Hunk begin to fidget again, but he stopped himself and clasped his hands together tightly.

 

“Hunk, dude, what is up with you?” Lance finally breaks the silence; the air around them feels weird, and it makes something turn in his stomach. Nothing is ever weird between them, so what’s the difference now?

 

At this, Hunk seems to curl into himself even more; Lance’s expression twists even more to show his growing confusion with his best friend’s actions. “Oh, uh, nothin’. I’m, uh,” Hunk pauses, but it’s so short that Lance doesn’t have a chance to ponder over it before Hunk is finishing his sentence. “I’m fine, just thinking. About stuff.”

 

“Yeah, I’m not buyin’ it. I know when you’re “just thinking about stuff” and this,” Lance gestures in Hunk’s general direction with a flip of a thin wrist. “isn’t it.” Hunk sighs, and the expression that presents itself on his face is more familiar to Lance; it’s one of annoyance, like when he bothers Hunk whenever Hunk is fixing something up, but the expression doesn’t remain for long.

 

“Well, whatever, it’s nothin’ important.”

 

“If it’s making you pout and frown like that, then it’s gotta be important, Hunk,” Lance smoothly makes his way over to Hunk and links their arms together, his voice is soft and his eyes are caring, and this makes Hunk pull away from him and face the wall  instead of lean into him like he usually does.

 

“See, is this! I don’t get it, I don’t get you,” Lance clutches at his shirt, hurt but choosing not to say anything until Hunk has said all that he needs to say. “Most of the time you tease me, you don’t take me seriously, you walk and talk all over me to the point where I wonder if we’re even friends or if I’m just someone convenient to be around. And yet, here you go noticing the little things about me, showing that maybe you do care, and I just—it’s just—” Hunk sighs deeply, roughly running his hands through his hair and groaning to himself.

 

Lance swallows, his eyes downcast as he thinks about his entire relationship with Hunk thus far. With every passing memory, the lump in his throat grows bigger and bigger as he realizes just how unfair he’s been to the one person he considers his best friend—more than his best friend really. Lance slowly  scoots over to Hunk and rests his head on the other’s shoulder gently, wrapping his arms around Hunk’s torso. “Hunk, I’m, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean—no, even if I didn’t mean to, I still hurt you a lot. I just want you to know that you are most definitely my friend, my best friend, god you’re even like family to me. I really am sorry for hurting you for so long, and I want you to know that I love you man. You’re super important to me.”

 

Hunk tried to resist it, but he couldn’t help the smile starting to spread onto his face. He grabbed one of Lance’s hands and intertwined their fingers. Lance tightened his hold onto Hunk and buried his face deeper into his shoulder. The two spent the rest of the evening talking about everything between them; there were lots more apologies but by the end of the night, the two felt much lighter, happier, and closer than ever before.


	4. Whirlpool

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk i felt like writing smth but i didn't figure out what exactly before writing this orz sorry for it being super short

Lance feels like he is stuck in a whirlpool; everything going on around him sounds muffled in his ears, and his chest feels like it was burning intensely. He couldn’t even swallow properly as he rushes to his lion unsteadily, his body going through the usual procedures but his mind far off in a different place. Briefly he thinks about how he might get scolded by Shiro by how unfocused and unsteady he was, but for the first time since this whole thing started he could not bring himself to care.

 

Hunk was in danger. And not just caught up on some planet they could easily get to—no, he was currently on a Galra ship, probably unconscious.  _ Hopefully _ unconscious. Lance’s breathing became increasingly irregular at the thought of Hunk being fully awake and aware of his situation right now. The ruthless Galra doing unspeakable things to him. Lance took in a sharp breath and made an unusual sound.

 

“Hey, Lance, you okay?” Shiro questions warily, not sure if he’d even get a response. He didn’t, for a short while, and neither Pidge nor Keith dared to speak up either. At this point, they all knew what Lance and Hunk meant to each other, and they could all relate to how he must have been feeling at the moment.

 

“Ye—,” Lance starts, but everyone could tell by his voice that it wasn’t what he wanted to say. Lance attempts to clear his throat to make him sound a bit normal before he spoke up again. “I’m—I’m not fine, but I won’t let that stop me from saving Hunk.” Lance’s voice was quiet, it was the best he could muster at the moment, but they all understood him just fine and it put them in the mindset to do this, and do it right.

 

“Alright team, let’s save our boy Hunk!” Shiro shouts, earning determined yells from the other paladins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in the end, they get hunk back & give their boy some cuddles......after he gets out the first-aid pods (lol i forgot what they're called) bc they still hurt our poor boy ;(


	5. Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've had this idea for a month or so now (i think) and so i finally made it happen

Hunk takes a deep breath; his eyes are closed and there is a sad smile on his face as he soaks in the sinking sun. He buries his fingers into the warm sand and lets the tide kiss his toes as it rushes up in a comforting consistency. He hums along to the music blasting from Lance’s cellphone, said teen lying on Hunk’s lap happily (though Hunk knew he was trying his best to feign it).

This was the last time they’d be doing this—that is, the last time they’d laze around in their hometown. Their families had announced that they were moving a month or so ago, but it still wasn’t long enough for them to not feel the sting of realization that there would be no more memories here again. It seems silly, especially since most other kids in their grade expressed jealousy of the two being able to move out of this little town by the beach; a so-called dead place where everyone knew everyone and everything at some point or another. However, Hunk and Lance loved that the most about this place. It was small, cozy, and familiar. They enjoyed nothing more than being able to look out of their bedroom windows and seeing each other in the early mornings or the late nights (on the off occasion that they weren’t together already), or being able to go anywhere they wanted in town at any time without their parents having to worry about them.

Most importantly, they enjoyed the secret pocket on the beach where they could go and remove themselves from reality for a bit, which is exactly where they’ve found themselves a mere few hours before moving day; the slight breeze making the outgrown, self-made clubhouse creak in the background.

“I’m really gonna miss this place, Hunk. Nothing will ever be more home than this. I mean, Cali sounds great and all, but it’s not getting out of school and walking home with the lazy lull of this empty sea town to a house full of the smell of my mom’s Croquetas de Jamón mixed with your dad’s Oka kinda great, y’know? Like it’s great that our families are moving together and we’ll still have each other and our everything, but, it’s just...”

“That was very poetic of you, Lance.” Hunk chuckles a bit and opens his eyes; he stares down at Lance softly, then removes one of his hands from the sand and takes a short moment to wipe it clear of anything before running his hand through Lance’s hair. “But I know man, it doesn’t feel right to be leaving. Like you said, this is home. This is sixteen years of growing up awkwardly; discovering who we are, and what we are to each other.” Lance finally manages to smile at the thought and he sits up from his position to kiss Hunk on his cheek before turning his face slightly to kiss him on his lips.

Lance breaks away after a moment, but not by much. Lance stares into Hunk’s eyes with what he once called his “lady-killer” eyes. “But still, I’m so glad we’re not losing all of our home though, I don’t think I could survive without you.”

“Now you’re just being dramatic, Lance,” Hunk smirks as he leans back in, Lance too in need of comfort to protest at the moment.

The two kissed until sundown, and the tide managed to take them by surprise as it rose enough to wet nearly their entire bottom halves. They walked home sandy, wet, and cold, and at some point Lance remarked how they couldn’t look even more descriptive of how they were feeling at the moment. Hunk promptly disagreed as they both burst into laughter as they usually do, the auntie along the way that usually provided them with fresh fruit not bothering to quiet them down despite the time of night it was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope that the cuban & samoan dishes i quickly included are good enough lol i tried going for light after school snack type dishes and those are what google presented me (for some reason the samoan one was harder to produce a result for or maybe i'm just not smart orz)


	6. Relief

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wanted to angst so bad, but that's not me hoihoi

Soft, orange sunlight filtered into Hunk’s room, the rolling, blue waves painted on his wall shifting in color a bit. He’s been staring at this same wall since he had come home from school— _ alone _ , he adds in his mind, his stomach twisting and his breath catching in the most unpleasant ways. Hunk sighs and shifts so that he is now staring at his ceiling (that is painted to resemble a sky; there are kites and birds and clouds and the nostalgia of how excited he was as a kid for the piece to be done almost makes Hunk feel warm inside) , usually he would come home with Lance, but he couldn’t bear to see the other. Hunk begins to chew at his bottom lip as the memory from earlier plays in his mind again.

_ “Hey, Hunk,” Pidge was beaming, and Hunk was worried about what she could possibly be thinking of. “I’ve been thinking, and you know what? I think Lance is totally crushing on Keith,” Pidge snorted after the fact, probably thinking about all the way she could make fun of Lance since he was so adamant about hating Keith with every fiber of his being. Hunk wanted to laugh too, he wanted to plot of some teases and jokes alongside Pidge, but he was frozen.  He took a deep breath in an attempt to still his shaking heart, the method working enough for him to pretend like he was amused by the fact. _

_ “How,” Hunk was shocked by his own choked off voice. He cleared his throat and took another deep breath before trying again. “How did you even come to this conclusion, Pidge?” _

_ “Well, you know! He’s like obsessed with Keith and everything he does, anyone would think he was crushing, right? Come on, don’t tell me you haven’t thought about it? You’re Lance’s best friend, you should know better than anyone how he feels!” _

Hunk forced himself back to reality, sitting up quickly to wipe away the tears that he couldn’t hold back anymore. “Ahhhhg, this sucks, man,” Hunk groaned and sniffled, hanging his head low.  _ ‘Why did it have to be Lance? When was it ever Lance in the first place?’ _ Hunk thought to himself, frustratedly wiping away more tears.

“Um, Hunk, buddy, are you okay?” Hunk looked up and there was Lance. He had a few bags of snacks with him—all of their favorites—and his face showed nothing but concern. Hunk wanted to scream.

“Oh, uh, yeah, perfectly fine! What’s up?” Hunk smiled, but the heart wasn’t there. He could tell that Lance could tell and Hunk hoped that Lance would just ignore it. Lance set the bags of snacks down and made his way over to Hunk, wasting no time in wrapping his arms around his friend. Hunk’s eyes welled up with tears again, but he fought them like his life depended on it.

“Dude, what’s wrong? You’ve been kind of weird all day, did something happen? Did someone say something you? Did,” Lance starts, Hunk pulls away from Lance to look at his face and he finds Lance looking a bit pained. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No! No, no, no, no, never, no,” Hunk reflexively grabbed Lance’s face and pressed their foreheads together gently; his thumbs stroked Lance’s cheeks soothingly. “I just—thought about something too much, that’s all. Pidge, she came to the conclusion that you liked Keith and I guess it bugged me a bit, maybe, I guess. I’m sorry.” Hunk’s voice got softer and softer as he spoke on, embarrassed and ashamed of himself. Lance gasped and pulled away, horrified, at Hunk’s words; he dramatically faked gagged and died, and Hunk couldn’t help but sigh and chuckle a bit.

“Hunk, how could you! I trusted you, and you let me down!” Lance exclaimed, standing up and turning away from Hunk with his arms crossed. “I, I don’t know if we’ll ever be the same after this,”

“Wow, okay, drama queen,” Hunk rolled his eyes and made his way over to the snacks Lance brought. He feels much, much lighter than before, and his lost appetite from before had come back with full force.

“No, but seriously,  _ Keith _ ?? You really thought I’d have the hots for  _ mullet boy _ ?? I have better tastes than that, Hunk, come on,”

“Oh yeah, what kind of tastes, then?” Hunk questioned around a mouthful of chips.

“You know, I like guys who can cook and bake,” Lance smirked a bit before moving over to the wall opposite of Hunk. “Men that appreciate fine art and culture, but also a good laugh at my dumb jokes,” Lance looked over his shoulder at Hunk, the other with a chip halfway into his mouth. Hunk stared dumbly for a moment, his face hot.

“Oh, oh my god,” Lance laughed, falling to the floor as he watched Hunk attempt to suppress a smile before curling into himself.

Lance crawled his way over to Hunk, resting himself beside the other’s knees while taking his bag of chips. “Anyways, we’re going to need to have a talk with Pidge tomorrow, we can’t let our daughter do as she pleases,”

"Lance,  _ no _ ,” Hunk sighed, but Lance was already in another fit of laughter.


	7. Baking Bad

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> can i get a fuckin uuuuuuhhhhhh better title rip
> 
> also, this was inspired by a post on tumblr abt how hunk isn't always all sunshine & niceness

“That’s definitely not the right mixing speed, Lance.”

 

“Oooh, don’t you think you added a bit too much salt?”

 

“Yeah, buddy, I don’t think you have the skills to take creative liberty here, stick to the recipe, dude.”

 

Lance sighed as he set his materials down and sharply turned towards Hunk. “Do you mind, big guy? It’s  _ really _ hard to practice when you keep making jibes at me like that.” Lance tried to keep the annoyance from his voice, but even if he did let it through, he doesn’t think Hunk would have cared either way. Lance knows Hunk is in “Chef Mode” right now, or rather “Baker Mode”, even if he isn’t the one practicing his butt off just to probably barely scrape by with a  good grade on this project.

 

“I’m not taking jibes at you, man, it’s called constructive criticism. And trust me, you need a lot of it.” Lance balled up his hands into fists out of frustrated, but he quickly relaxed and got back to work. He really wished Shiro’s kitchen had a door so he could shut everyone—though he supposes it’s specifically Hunk—out. However, it doesn’t, so he takes a few deep breaths and tries his best to just shut him out as he keeps going through the recipe. As he gets in a groove, Lance hears Hunk making comments every now and again, but he’s so focused, he can’t exactly discern the words (which he’s grateful for, really). In the end, Lance pulls his creation out of the over carefully, placing it on a tray before taking it out to the others.

 

“Alright everyone, practice run number 9 is complete, fresh outta the oven! Don’t touch anything yet, it’s hot. I’ll go get you some plates and forks, be right back.” Lance announced excitedly, seeing at how the dessert appeared to have came out well, and he disappeared into the kitchen once again to grab eating utensils for the others and himself. Lance divided up the dessert equally and passed out pieces to all of his friends, eagerly awaiting their responses.

 

Pidge, being the most excited about this whole ordeal, exclaimed happily almost immediately. “Wow, Lance! This is great!”

 

“Yeah, Lance, you really improved. I’m proud of you.” Shiro gave a warm smile towards Lance which brightened up the younger even more. He turned towards Keith who only hummed in agreement along with a thumbs up, his mouth too full of the dessert to answer properly.

 

“I’m sure you’ll be able to make a pretty decent grade on this project if you bake like this!” Allura also seemed quite pleased with the result. “I’m not the biggest fan of American chocolate, but this is far too delectable.”

 

“Agreed!” Coran chipped in, plate nearly empty already (though, he wasn’t the only one). Lance felt himself relax considerably, and he was about to grab a piece for himself, but then Hunk spoke up.

 

“It’s good, but like, not great, you know? It could be fluffier, and I knew that you put in too much salt.” Hunk critiqued Lance’s dessert as if they were on a tv show, as if it were his job, and Lance nearly slammed his plate down.

 

“You know what, Hunk. You’re the absolute worst. You couldn’t just let me have this, could you?” Lance stormed off to one of the back rooms, slamming the door behind him. Everyone looked at hunk in some form of shock or disapproval, especially Shiro.

 

“Seriously, Hunk, was that really necessary? You  _ know _ how hard Lance has been working on this, and he finally got it right. Why did you have to bring him down like that?” Shiro sighed and set his empty plate on the table.

 

“What? I was just trying to help him! Like I said before, it’s just constructive criticism. It’s not big deal!”

 

“I don’t think you can say that when it’s very obviously a big deal to Lance.” Pidge chimed in, getting up from her seat on Shiro’s sofa to make her way back to Lance. Shiro followed after her, figuring it’d be easier trying to cheer Lance up than to get Hunk to realize his own wrong actions at the moment. Allura and Coran gathered everyone’s dishes and made their way to the kitchen awkwardly, glad to do a little dishwashing for once.

 

“Seriously, I don’t get it. Did I say anything wrong, Keith?” Hunk turned towards said male, but quickly deflated as he realized that Keith was already trying to fall asleep. “Well, whatever. He’ll get over it.” Hunk mumbled to himself, turning on the T.V. to take his mind off of the situation.

  
  


A week later, and Lance still hasn’t talked to Hunk. He even changed baking groups, and Hunk didn’t even know that was allowed. Now it was baking day, and with Lance on his mind, Hunk has been all over the place. From adding too much of this, or too little of that, to flat out forgetting to take his dessert out of the oven. Hunk sighed as his teacher reviewed his dessert, disappointment clear on her face.

 

“Well, Hunk, I can’t say that I’m not surprised. I was most excited for your dessert today, too. What happened?” She asked with concern on her face. Hunk gripped at the bottom of his shirt nervously; he felt bad for so many reasons. He let his teacher down, and most importantly (he now realizes), he made Lance consistently feel terrible and then had the audacity to not perform well himself.

 

“I, uh, just, I had a lot on my mind...” Hunk stumbled out, eyes not being able to reach his teacher’s. He played with his hands as his teacher graded his dessert. When he finished, he thanked her quietly and went back to his seat, throwing his dessert in the trash while she worked with another student, which happened to be Lance. Hunk watched at the teacher’s face went from uncertainty to pleasant surprise. She praised Lance endlessly for his wondrous improvement, making the same relieved smile that he had a week ago appear on his face again. Hunk’s stomach twisted and turned at the thought of him taking away that smile, and not even caring about it, because he was so sure that he was right.

 

As Lance made his way back to his seat, the bell rung, and many students rushed to get their desserts graded in order to go to lunch. Just outside of the classroom, Hunk stopped Lance by gently grabbing his arm. Lance didn’t turn around immediately, knowing exactly who was stopping him, but eventually he did. His face was....anxious, and it made Hunk want to crawl into a hole.

 

“Listen, Lance, I’m so sorry for making you feel terrible about your dessert, especially last week. You worked so hard for so long to even make it edible, and I just went and shot you down due to my own unreasonably high standards. As your best friend, someone who should have known better, I really do apologize, man.” Hunk’s eyes instinctively flicked downwards, and he saw that Lance made an A on his dessert, and his heart swelled. “Dude, you crushed it, I’m so proud!” Hunk smiled brightly at Lance and brought him in for a hug, working around the dessert Lance was holding.

 

“Thanks, big guy,” Lance buried his face into Hunk’s shoulder and wrapped his arms around Hunk. “it really means a lot coming from you. Like, seriously.” Lance’s face was a bit flushed when they pulled apart, but Hunk didn’t get a chance to notice as Lance began to hurry off to the cafeteria.

 

“Hey, just so you know, I get first dibs on your dessert. Pidge can shove it!” Hunk made grabby hands towards Lance’s dessert, but the other moved it away.

 

“Nuh uh, Mr. Food Critic, you don’t get a pass that easily,” Lance wiggled his finger at Hunk with a teasing smile on his face. Hunk pouted, but he didn’t argue, only silently hoping that he could at least get second dibs.

 

(At the lunch  table, Hunk didn’t get second dibs, but he got a consolation kiss on the cheek as well as a clear view of Lance’s shy, flushed face, so he guesses not all was lost.)


End file.
